Tag Archives: nerves

After All, I’ve Killed Before

Posted on April 27, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was hoping to make a quick blog post before getting ready for our performance of Recipe for Murder Royale, the murder mystery we are presenting to benefit Salisbury Grange. We have not rehearsed at the Grange, but I feel that is the least of my worries. Did I say I was worried? Say it ain’t so! But I think many performers get butterflies of one sort of another.

This is us!

My butterflies are often regarding the pesky details moreso than the performance itself (moreso isn’t a word? Who knew) (oh I just checked: it is a nonstandard spelling). Much like the butterflies I get before a road race: I am more concerned with finding a parking space and getting to the starting line on time than the actual running. It is not a perfect parallel, however. I harbor a few qualms about the performance. After all, running is a fairly straightforward proposition. In theatre, you have lines to remember and other actors to deal with.

Well that little sidetrack took my mind off my troubles for a few minutes.

What I have to worry about this morning is getting ready, making sure I have something to eat (not easy since I have not been grocery shopping), getting to the Grange (I’ve driven there before, but regular readers know my propensity for getting lost). Getting ready is the main thing. What, oh what am I going to do with my hair? I was growing it out for Prescription: Murder, and that worked out fairly well, with the help of the wonderful woman who volunteered to do hair and make-up.

I will NOT be able to do this myself!

Well, I will wash it and perhaps blow it dry and see what I can do. Time to look over my lines again, take my shower, get something to eat (not all at once, but no promises about that given my dithery state of mind). I’m sure I’ll break a leg. If I forget all my lines, my castmates may break it for me!

Pre Frangelica Jitters

Posted on January 26, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

Good afternoon and may I have your attention please for a Pre-Performance post. Have I done one of those before? I mustn’t take the time to go back and check; I just looked at the clock, and I must allow time to fuss with my hair and dither over my costume. First, I hope, a cup of coffee. I just put it on to brew. I have traded coffee for Irish Breakfast Tea the past two mornings, so I have perhaps inflated expectations of how wonderful this coffee is going to taste.

The performance, as regular readers know, is Curtains for Frangelica, the murder mystery we are reviving from this past fall to present for the New Hartford American Legion tonight. I believe proceeds will go toward DAV vans. I only do these murder mysteries for charity, not profit. Killing for a Cause? You alliterate.

Throwing in a picture to pep up the post.

This is a picture from when we were rehearsing the show last fall at Herkimer Elks Lodge. It was fun then, and I have every reason to expect it to be fun now. There is really no reason to feel nervous. But of course I do.

Or will it be curtains for me?

The last I heard the show had not sold out. If any local readers are suddenly inclined to attend, tickets may still be available. New Hartford American Legion’s phone number is 315-736-7041. They are located at 8616 Clinton St., New Hartford, NY.

I think my coffee is ready. I know my nervousness will vanish and I will have a wonderful time once we start. I only hope I can find a pair of pantyhose without runs in them!

Lame Minute Before the Race

Posted on July 11, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

The Boilermaker excitement continues. And could somebody please explain to me why I feel so blankety-blank NERVOUS about it? I will run 15 Ks. It will be fun. My problems of getting there and getting home afterward will be solved one way or another. There is no reason for butterflies.

One theory about why I would be nervous is that I am on my employer’s Corporate Cup Team. My time will count in a competition that could win money for a charity. I will not run fast. I never run very fast. But the others on my team already know that. They let me on the team anyways. It is no cause for distress.

Today Steven and I went to the Boilermaker Expo at Mohawk Valley Community College to pick up my race packet. This was another source of stress. Drive to Utica, find a parking space, make my way through a crowd — regular readers know I have trouble with all these things. The little trip went off without a hitch. One would expect me to feel relief.

And here I sit with my wrist to my forehead (figuratively speaking, that is), knowing that I am being completely stupid and self-dramatizing. These are not insurmountable problems, I tell myself. Quit being such a big baby!

Perhaps my problem is not the Boilermaker 15K at all. Perhaps my problem is that this is the last Friday of my two week break. I will run the Boilermaker Sunday and go back to work on Monday. I believe this is something that could cause any rational person at least some amount of distress.

On the brighter side, I can look forward to next Friday, when Friday will MEAN something again. It won’t be the end of my days off, it will be the beginning of my days off. Yes, it will be two days rather than two weeks, must you bring up the negative aspects of everything?

In the meantime, don’t mind me. I’m just being foolish. I really am looking forward to the Boilermaker. I’m even looking forward to the short, easy run I intend to take tomorrow morning. I like to run.

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Posted in humor, Lame Post Friday, personal and tagged Boilermaker, Boilermaker 15K, Mohawk Valley Community College, nerves, nervous, running, The Boilermaker, Utica NY, wrist to forehead. Bookmark the permalink.

On Your Mark, Get Set, Get Nervous

Posted on July 7, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

It’s a Mental Meanderings Monday and let me tell you, today I am all over the map. Not literally. I did take a long walk that covered a bit of the map of Herkimer, but that’s neither here nor there. Or rather, that was here and there. Oh dear, I am not making much sense today.

The fact is, the Boilermaker is a mere five days away and I am NERVOUS. Here’s now nervous I am: I just hit something and erased what I had just typed in. As I tried to get it back, I thought, really, no big whoop, it was a dumb paragraph. I can write something better. Then I got it back and thought, waste not, want not (a favorite saying of mine).

It’s just pre-race jitters, a perfectly normal phenomenon. All I have to do is get to the race and start running and I’ll be fine. Well, there’s one problem right there: I have to get to the race. I keep telling myself: it’s not a problem: Steven will drop me off. So why do I still feel nervous? OK, try not to dwell on it. Drink some water.

There’s another problem: am I hydrated enough? I keep drinking water, with an occasional break of Gator Ade or seltzer with lemon. OK, I drank coffee this morning. Two and a half cups. I’m sure that’s too much. And I probably should not have had that wine yesterday. It is kind of a thing with me to enjoy a glass or two of white wine on a Sunday, but I suppose one ought to forgo these things a week before the Boilermaker.

Well, I can’t help the coffee and wine I already drank, can I? I can’t help the sprints I didn’t run; it’s too late now. As a matter of fact, I think I did train enough to run 15 Ks. My last few runs have felt really good. Maybe not for the whole run, but for a good part of it. Perhaps I could have run more and would feel even better now, but all things considered (you know, like being middle-aged and having a life plus the changeable Mohawk Valley weather), I think I did OK.

So I guess this is my post for the day. I’ve blathered on for almost 400 words about my foolish nerves. I’d like to feel I’ve gotten it out of my system. I have rehearsal tonight for Roxy, the play I am in at Ilion Little Theatre. Perhaps tomorrow I could take a day off from All Boilermaker All The Time and write about that.

Mohawk Valley Girl